COMMISSIONERS CONTINUE WIND TALK

May 23, 2012

By

Brianne Eichman

COLUMBIA CITY â€” After more discussion on the proposed Wind Energy Ordinance, the commissioners decided to wait until their next meeting to make any decisions.
The meeting began with Commissioner Thomas Rethlake asking, â€śHow are we going to proceed?â€ť
Rethlake said he had recently received more comments that needed to be considered before making any proposed changes or decisions.
The commissioners decided not to consider any further written comments or suggestions after Mondayâ€™s meeting.
Commissioner Don Amber agreed with Schrumpf as he said there needed to be an end to written concerns or the commissioners would never be able to make any final decisions.
Amber also said since the commissioners have been present at two public hearings on the proposed Wind Energy Ordinance, he no longer thinks it will be necessary for the commissioners to hold one.
â€śWe do want to listen, but I think that a public hearing probably would serve no useful purpose.â€ť
With the planning commissionâ€™s favorable recommendation on the proposed ordinance, the commissioners still have a few options before them.
They have the option to do nothing, and after 90 days from when the commissioners received the proposed ordinance, it would be published as it is. The commissioners can also take official action on the proposed ordinance, approving or rejecting it as presented.
Another option is to revise it, and in any amendment or revision, it will be sent back to the planning commission.
These revisions would have to be made in writing, as the commissioners would have to be very specific concerning the changes they wished to make.
If the commissioners decided they wanted to revise the proposed ordinance at their next meeting, the planning commission would then have 45 days in which to take action by accepting or rejecting the changes.
If the planning commission did not take action on it in 45 days, what the commissioners sent to them would be published.
If the planning commission accepts or rejects it, the proposed ordinance will come back to the commissioners, and all the commissioners would need to do is approve it once again for it to become an ordinance.